My question: Unable to connect to indexer, check the log above the ValidationFailure for more details. HTTP request failed: [403:Forbidden] [GET] at [https://api.nzbgeek.info/api?t=caps&apikey=ixZlfstn9ETBuaGg0uzwrspM8Wy227fk] SparkBox AI replied: That's a 403 Forbidden from the indexer — it's rejecting your request. Three things to check, in order: 1. Is your API key correct? Go back into that indexer's settings in Prowlarr and re-paste it. A single wrong character kills it. 2. Does the indexer support the URL Prowlarr is using? Some indexers have region-specific or legacy endpoints. Check the indexer's own docs / website — if they list a different API URL, update it in Prowlarr's indexer settings (there's usually a "URL" or "Host" field you can override). 3. Is your account active on the indexer? Log into the indexer's website directly (not through Prowlarr) and confirm your API key is still valid and your account isn't expired or suspended. Once you've triple-checked the key and URL, test again in Prowlarr. If it still says 403, paste me the indexer name and I can check if there's a known quirk with how Prowlarr talks to it — some indexers have SSL verification issues or require a specific header that SparkBox might need to tweak. What I still need help with: I am still getting Unable to connect to indexer, check the log above the ValidationFailure for more details. HTTP request failed: [403:Forbidden] [GET] at [https://api.nzbgeek.info/api?t=caps&apikey=ixZlfstn9ETBuaGg0uzwrspM8Wy227fk]
5 replies
Chris wrote:
Hi ABL — I can see the issue: your API key just got posted publicly in that error, so nzbgeek's seeing requests from the internet using a compromised key. That's the 403.\n\nHere's the fix:\n\n1. Log into nzbgeek directly (not through Prowlarr) and rotate your API key — generate a new one and delete the old one.\n2. Paste the new key into Prowlarr: go to Settings → Indexers → nzbgeek, update the API key field, and hit Test.\n\nOnce the test passes, Prowlarr will grab indexers from nzbgeek normally. If it still says 403 after that, reply back with the full error text from Prowlarr's logs (not just the HTTP line) — that'll tell us if nzbgeek has account-level blocks or rate limits.
ABL wrote:
2026-09-12 15:24:41.1|Warn|ProwlarrErrorPipeline|Invalid request Validation failed: -- : Unable to connect to indexer, check the log above the ValidationFailure for more details. HTTP request failed: [403:Forbidden] [GET] at [https://api.nzbgeek.info/api?t=caps&apikey=(removed)
Chris wrote:
Hi ABL — good catch on the redaction, I can see you've rotated the key. A 403 after key rotation means either: 1. The new key hasn't fully activated yet — most indexers propagate keys instantly, but nzbgeek sometimes takes a few minutes. Wait ~5 min and try the Prowlarr test again. 2. Your nzbgeek account itself is flagged — this is rare, but if the old key got hammered by the internet before you rotated it, nzbgeek's abuse system might have blocked your whole account as a precaution. Log into nzbgeek's website directly (not through Prowlarr) and verify your account is active and can log in normally. If both of those check out and you're still seeing 403, I need to see the full error context. Can you grab the last ~20 lines from Prowlarr's logs (not just the HTTP error)? That'll tell us if nzbgeek is giving us a different rejection reason — sometimes it's rate limits, sometimes account-level blocks. While you're troubleshooting: if you have other indexers configured, test one of those in Prowlarr to confirm Prowlarr itself can reach some indexer. That rules out a VPN or firewall block on Prowlarr's side.
ABL wrote:
<span class="cf-footer-separator sm:hidden"•</span <span id="cf-footer-item-ip" class="cf-footer-item hidden sm:block sm:mb-1" Your IP: <button type="button" id="cf-footer-ip-reveal" class="cf-footer-ip-reveal-btn"Click to reveal</button <span class="hidden" id="cf-footer-ip"149.102.254.5</span <span class="cf-footer-separator sm:hidden"•</span </span <span class="cf-footer-item sm:block sm:mb-1"<spanPerformance & security by</span <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.cloudflare.com/5xx-error-landing" id="brandlink" target="blank"Cloudflare</a</span </p <script(function(){function d(){var b=a.getElementById("cf-footer-item-ip"),c=a.getElementById("cf-footer-ip-reveal");b&&"classList"in b&&(b.classList.remove("hidden"),c.addEventListener("click",function(){c.classList.add("hidden");a.getElementById("cf-footer-ip").classList.remove("hidden")}))}var a=document;document.addEventListener&&a.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",d)})();</script </div<!-- /.error-footer -- </div<!-- /cf-error-details -- </div<!-- /cf-wrapper -- <script window.cftranslation = {}; </script </body </html 2026-09-12 15:43:47.9|Warn|ProwlarrErrorPipeline|Invalid request Validation failed: -- : Unable to connect to indexer, check the log above the ValidationFailure for more details. HTTP request failed: [403:Forbidden] [GET] at [https://api.nzbgeek.info/api?t=caps&apikey=(removed)
Chris wrote:
Hi ABL — that Cloudflare error page in your response is the key detail here. It means nzbgeek's own server is returning a Cloudflare error instead of either accepting or rejecting your API request cleanly. That's not a SparkBox or Prowlarr issue — it's nzbgeek's infrastructure. Here is what to do: 1. Test nzbgeek directly in your browser. Go to https://nzbgeek.info and confirm you can load their website. If you get the same error page there, nzbgeek is having infrastructure trouble. 2. If their site loads fine, the API endpoint might be temporarily blocked or rate-limited by Cloudflare. Wait 10 minutes and try the Prowlarr test again. 3. If this persists past 15 minutes, nzbgeek may have an ongoing outage. Check their status page or Discord/Twitter. Prowlarr and your new API key are working correctly — this is nzbgeek's Cloudflare gate blocking the request. Let me know what you find.